In My Studio: Launching New Products

So Handmade Train Play mat

I have been working on some new products in my studio this last couple of months and realized it would help me enormously if I listed all the steps I take to get a new product launched for the next time I want to develop and launch something new. I figure that a lot of makers have their own processes and development strategies but this could be useful to others and can be adapted to fit different specialties.

These are the steps I took before launching my new Construction and Train Play Mats:

1) Idea: That light bulb moment when you come up with a great new idea or concept. I tend to think about a new product for quite a long time before putting pen to paper- or fabric to the sewing machine. The idea can come from anywhere- by adapting something you make already, fulfilling a need for something in your own life or from being inspired by outside influences.

2) Prototype: The next step I take is to make a mock up of the product using scraps of fabric I have lying around. This may happen a couple of time before I get it right.

My Play Mat prototype

3) Design: Once I have the prototype mocked up I start designing on paper doing a few rough layouts before drawing it out properly in pen and ink. I do my designs in black on white to be able to transfer them onto screens. 

My drawing board where I design my new products

4) Supplies: Around the same time that I am designing I think about the supplies I am going to need to make the new products. How many am I going to make, which fabrics will I need and how much. Also will I need any fastenings such as buttons or velcro. In this latest product I decided to use organic materials so sourcing and ordering was a little more challenging.

Organic fabrics and threads ready to make my new play mats

5) Printing and making: I usually start a new product with a run of about 30 to insure a good supply for craft fairs and Etsy for a few months. After hand screen printing the fabric I cut it out and sew them together.

My sewing station whilst watching the Great British Sewing Bee on the Ipad!

6) Photography: Once the first few have been made its time to photograph them for use on Etsy and on Social Media. When photographing them a good tip is to remember to take a few shots using holiday styling to switch out when the time comes.

7) Listing on Etsy: Keep in mind how you will be packaging your new product when you have to ship them out. Will you need any special packaging supplies and will you need to create a new shipping profile.

8) Promote these new products on your social media accounts (instagram, pinterest, Facebook etc) and remember to post in the Makers on Hudson new and renewed items chat thread.  

9) Copyright: I have been making it a habit to copyright my new products right after I launch them. It is pretty quick and easy to do on www.copyright.gov website and well worth the small investment.

10) Display and Marketing: Think about how the new product will be displayed in your craft fair booth or at any of your sales outlets and if any new displays will be needed.

Construction Play Mat by So Handmade

Good Luck and Good Making!

Sarah

So Handmade

Creating Success from the Inside Out: Acknowledge Your Successes

Just the other day when I was browsing my Kindle, I decided to wipe the virtual dust from Jack Canfield's Success Principles and started reading it again.  It's the kind of book you can read over and over or just pick up and read a chapter whenever you have time or inclination.  Each chapter stands alone as a success principle in and of itself.

The chapter I read that really resonated with me has to do with acknowledging your past and present successes, both large and small.  If you're anything like me, you let your inner critic get the best of you sometimes (more often than I would like to admit here!). When the voice inside your head that criticizes you for not getting all those items you made added to Etsy that day or for locking your keys in your car, or for eating that cookie that you didn't need (and then eating 3 more), it can be damaging to your psyche.  After all, we attract to us what we most think about.

Canfield offers several suggestions for kicking the habit of negative thinking about yourself and your actions.  One strategy he recommends that intrigued me is what he calls the "Mirror Exercise".  To do this, you stand in front of a mirror every night for 3 minutes, look yourself in the eye, and appreciate your achievements that day.  By achievements, he's not talking about things like making 10 sales on Etsy or running a marathon, although those would count too!  Rather, he means all of the little things that you do each and every day that make a positive difference in your life and the lives of those you love, work with, and interact with in general.  You could appreciate the fact that you ate a healthy breakfast, that you got your butt to the gym, or even that you told your kids how much you love them.  Whatever you can think of, say it.  Then when you are done, tell yourself, "I love you".

It sounds very corny, I know...  But I am so dying to try this.  Canfield reported that after 40 days of doing this exercise faithfully, he had eradicated all that negative self talk he had previously experienced.  I am going to try this and I hope you try it too!

In My Studio: Keeping up with the Calendar

Calendar by Wishbone Letterpress

When I first moved to the US three years ago I kept missing out on opportunities to make and sell holiday and seasonal inspired work. I just didn't get my act together fast enough to keep up with the ever changing seasonal merchandise. I decided I needed a special calendar to help me organize my year of making. It would show all the important holidays, themes and seasons and include when to start making, when to list on Etsy and when to deliver to stores.

                        Hanukkah Cards by Karmabee      Valentines Day Ornaments by Get Tangled

 

When selling on Etsy it's important to make, photograph and list items for various holidays well enough in advance to allow potential customers to view, buy and have items delivered well before the holiday in question. Crafts makers all work at different rates so I thought I would post my schedule and then you are able to change it depending on which holidays you make for and the speed of your work:

Holiday/ Season	Date of Holiday/ Season	List on Etsy/ deliver to stores	When to make and photograph
Spring theme	March- May	In January	Nov, Dec
Valentines Day	14th Feb	Early Jan	December
St Patrick's Day	17th March	In Feb	January
Easter	20th April (2014)	Late March	Jan, Feb
Mothers Day	11th May (2014)	Mid April	March
Summer theme	May-Aug	April	March
Fathers Day	15th June (2014)	Mid May	April
Independence Day	4th July	Early June	May
Autumn theme	Sept- Nov	August	June, July
Halloween	31st October	September	July, August
Thanksgiving	27th Nov (2014)	October	Aug, Sept
Winter theme	Nov- Feb	October	Sept
Hanukkah	16-24th Dec (2014)	November	October
Christmas Day	25th Dec	October	Aug, Sept

 To try and simplify it I made these tables below:

What I should be making/ when:

Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
St Pat	Easter	Mother	Father	Ind Day	Autumn	Autumn	Halloween	Thanksgiving	Hanukkah	Spring	Spring
Easter		Summer				Halloween	Thanksgiving	Winter			Val Day
							Christmas	Christmas

What I should be listing on Etsy and delivering to stores/ when:

Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Spring	St Pat	Easter	Mother	Father	Ind Day		Autumn	Halloween	Thanksgiving	Hannukah
Val Day			Summer						Christmas
									Winter

 

 Owl Christmas Tree Skirt by So Handmade

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Henry David Thoreau

Good luck and Good Making!

Sarah Omura, So Handmade

www.etsy.com/shop/SOhandmade1

 

Creating Success From the Inside Out: Give 'Em What They Don't Even Know They Want

We may be in this Etsy business for a variety of reasons, but I have a hunch that the majority of us have Etsy shops so that we can earn an income doing what we love to do creatively.  If that is the case, then read on for an exercise in finding that sweet spot where you are doing what you love most and giving your customers what they want (but don’t even know it yet!). 

Original card by Wishbone Letterpress

The first step in this exercise is to dig out your top 5 strengths (see exercise in blog article from June 2013, Selling Your Uniqueness).  Read through the list so you have them at the forefront of your mind.  Now think about what your natural aptitudes are.  Consider these questions:

• What am I naturally good at?
• What things come so easily to me that I don’t even realize it?  (Consider that the things that come easily to you don’t always come easily to everyone else, too).
• What things do I love to do so much that hours can go by and I don’t even notice?
• What things do I do in my life that others appreciate and that I enjoy doing (doesn’t feel like work)?

Using these questions, brainstorm a list of between 5 and 10 ideas for ways you can provide value to others while doing what you enjoy and are good at.  It doesn’t have to be directly related to your Etsy shop or business.  It could be related to your hobbies, day job, other interests, etc.

Got your list?  Great!  Now onto more fantastical thinking outside the box… You need to know your ideal customer in order to do this next exercise.  If you haven’t flushed that out, see the blog article from April 2013, CreatingSuccess from the Inside Out: The #1 Thing You Must Do to Prep Your Business for Total Success. 

What can you offer your ideal customers that would make them totally stoked?  This is the time to do some seriously crazy outside the box thinking.  Don’t worry about being realistic or how you will execute.  This exercise is to get the juices flowing.  Write down at least 10 ideas.  

Cupcake Pendant by A Studio by the Sea

Now go back to your first list of things you enjoy doing that could provide value to others and circle the things that you think your customers would pay for.  Then circle the wild ideas from the second list that you would love to provide to your customers.  These items are what business and marketing genius Marie Forleo (www.marieforleo.com) calls the “Sweet Spot”.  Based on this list, you may already have some perspective on new products or offerings that you can develop and sell in your Etsy shop.  If some of them seem too pie-in-the-sky, then spend some time letting them sink in and consider how you can make them do-able in a way that will thrill your customers.

Did you come up with some new ideas?  I would love to hear from you in the comments below!